Leave me in peace: Lang Hancock’s plea to daughter Gina Rinehart
Lang Hancock pleaded for his daughter Gina Rinehart to leave him in peace during his final days, WA’s Supreme Court has heard.
Lang Hancock pleaded for his daughter Gina Rinehart to leave him in peace during his final years, Western Australia’s Supreme Court has heard.
Lawyers representing two of Mrs Rinehart’s children, John Hancock and Bianca Rinehart, on Tuesday produced correspondence between the pair as they tussled over the direction of Hancock Prospecting (HPPL) and other family entities during the final few years of Hancock’s life.
John Hancock and Bianca Rinehart have alleged that their mother defrauded them out of their full interests in the family’s iron ore empire, with their case being heard as part of an ongoing multibillion-dollar claim against HPPL by the descendants of Hancock’s former business partner, Peter Wright.
Christopher Withers SC, representing John and Bianca, told the court Mrs Rinehart had harassed her father over his spending on his new wife, former housemaid Rose Porteous, and his efforts to provide for her in his will.
He cited correspondence from a gravely ill Hancock, who had been “fighting with Gina for years” and “pleaded with (her) to stop her barrage of criticisms”.
In one letter read out by Mr Withers, he asked his daughter to leave him be.
“Now that dividends agreed under the June 1988 agreement have started to flow and the arrangement is being executed in full, I would be pleased if you would leave me alone to live the rest of my life in peace,” Hancock wrote.
The iron ore pioneer repeatedly reassured Mrs Rinehart about his plans for his estate, telling her on multiple occasions that she would inherit a 51 per cent interest and her children would share the remaining 49 per cent.
At one point in August 1991 – seven months before his death – Hancock said he would split his fortune equally between Mrs Rinehart’s family and Ms Porteous’s family. Mrs Rinehart, Mr Withers said, quickly responded that such a move was not possible given those assets sat within HPPL rather than his personal estate. “You can image what the reaction was of Gina; she was not terribly happy about it,” he said.
He also detailed how Mrs Rinehart had tried to undermine a deal her father was trying to negotiate with BHP over the sale of the huge McCamey’s Monster iron ore deposit in the Pilbara.
Hancock, Mr Withers said, wanted to complete the deal before his death so as to ensure the financial security of his family but unbeknown to him, a lawyer working for Mrs Rinehart had approached BHP with the “false assertion” that ownership of the deposit was in dispute.
Mr Withers again noted that Mrs Rinehart was not being called as a witness in the case, meaning she will not be able to be cross-examined about some of the events at the centre of the case.
Mrs Rinehart has said her and her father reconciled before his death.